


Chiaroscuro

by sttropezcultleader



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Asexual Character, Asian Regulus Black, Asian Sirius Black, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Sirius Black, Bisexuality, F/F, F/M, First War with Voldemort, Gay Remus Lupin, Gryffindor/Slytherin Inter-House Relationships, M/M, Multi, Peter Pettigrew is a Good Friend, Revenge, Wizarding Wars (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 01:26:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30131877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sttropezcultleader/pseuds/sttropezcultleader
Summary: "The fireborn are at home in fire. The stars make no noise."When Arabella Morgan was 14, she committed a cowardly act. Now she will spend the rest of her life attempting to atone for it. Armed with her fragmented memory and a dragon heartstring wand, she will revenge herself through any means necessary. An unusual favor in the summer of 1977 brings her an unusual friendship in Regulus Arcturus Black.Only the dead will see the end of war.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Marlene McKinnon/Dorcas Meadowes, Regulus Black/Original Female Character(s)





	Chiaroscuro

7th August, 1974

Her day began, as it had every day that entire summer, with a secret. Really though, it was far too hot outside for secrets, although perhaps that might have just been terribly close proximity with-

"Valerie, can you please stop fidgeting? I swear, it's just like when we were 9 again," she complained. The true source of the movement, she realized a second later, was her slightly trembling hands. Face reddening, she focused on braiding the thick locks of blonde hair woven between the fingers of her left hand, while picking up violets from a small pile of flowers on the ground. Braiding one handed was a lot harder than it looked, causing her to let out an involuntary grunt of annoyance. The owner of the hair - Valerie - snorted at this. 

"Merlin, Arabella, you can get an E on your Charms final but can't do my hair? Losing your touch I see," said Valerie. "I would abandon the braid if I were you."

Arabella sighed and relinquished the locks of hair in her (increasingly sweaty, she noted with disgust) palm, settling instead for tying the flower stems together in a lopsided crown and placing it on Valerie's golden head. 

"There you go, O Mistress Demeter," Arabella said, brushing strands of black hair out of her own fact, bent over the back of Valerie's head. "The things we came up with as kids...I was what, your high priestess?"

"Sounds about right," Valerie replied. "No wonder I turned out to be Sprout's favorite student."

"Oh, that's just because you're a Hufflepuff," said Arabella irritably, remembering a disastrous encounter with a Venomous Tentacula her second year, from which Valerie had rescued her with a handy Revulsion Jinx. "And because you know your way around the greenhouses," she conceded. 

Valerie giggled. "I wonder if Demeter had "saving inept Gryffindors" as a divine duty." She turned around to face Arabella, carelessly laying her outstretched legs on top of the other girl's. 

Arabella felt her chest begin to flutter. The first time this happened, she firmly brushed it off as the effects of the May sun. But it was August now, and she was beginning to realize a few things about herself. And about Valerie. Like how pretty she looked, just now, all meadow limbs and lopsided flower crown and strands of blonde hair every which way. And freckles. It took Arabella only an hour into the summer's Astronomy homework to realize how Valerie's freckles looked exactly like the Pegasus constellation in miniature, spread across the bridge of her nose and left cheek. 

There were some things that were caused by the sun. Arabella was 99% sure that fancying your best friend, who was also a girl, was not one of them. 

She felt as if she would burn into ash, right then and there. An entire summer's worth of longing, of keeping this secret, was showing in her clammy hands, the uncomfortable lightness she felt, as if someone had levitated her and refused to perform the counter-spell, and in the way she found it hard to look into Valerie's eyes. The legs, in a way, felt like the last straw.

Arabella kissed Valerie. Or really, she clumsily brushed her lips against the other girl's, and, maybe it was her imagination, but she felt a faint pressure back. Valerie tasted like the strawberry lip balm her Muggle grandparents always bought her for her birthday. Her hair smelled faintly of violets.

"Ara?" Valerie sounded confused. Not hurt, perhaps, just shocked, and perhaps (Arabella pushed the recklessly hopeful thought to the back of her head) happy? After all, Valerie *had* used her pet name, so hopefully she didn't suddenly hate her.

"Er, that was an accident. Well it wasn't. I mean, relatively...oh Merlin, I'm so sorry, I really - I'll just get some more flowers, and..." Arabella did not bother to finish her sentence, walking away as fast as she could without looking totally deranged.

It was because of the embarrassment that seemed to cause a haze to descend over the little park that Arabella did not notice the tall man walking purposefully in Valerie's direction. His black cloak, far too warm for August, billowed behind him. From the position she had assumed half behind a tree, a few feet from Valerie, who was still sitting as if stunned, she saw the tall man pull out his wand and point it at the blonde girl. 

_Hide, said one part of her brain. Whatever he wants, you won't be able to stop it. You barely got by in Defense Against the Dark Arts last year, and this grown man has years of experience. What did Professor Caldwell call your Disarming Charm? "Useless", wasn't it? You're only 14. Keep yourself safe. You've read the Prophet articles your parents try to hide before you see. You've seen what's been happening all summer, the Dark magic, the disappearances. You can't do anything._ Beginning to obey these thoughts, Arabella began to scramble up the tree as quietly as possible.

The other said to run over to Valerie, whip out your wand, and play the hero. Sir Luckless in Fountain of Fair Fortune, or what have you. _Even though you will probably end up dead. You're halfway up this bloody tree already, get down at once! Muster up that Gryffindor courage and save the girl you've been best friends with since you were six, damn it!_

"Avada Kedavra!"

As it turns out, Arabella did not need to make a decision. Everything glowed green. The prone body of Valerie, golden hair fanning out in the dirt. The sad little pile of flowers next to her. The man's silver mask, which he bent over casually to pick up. She glimpsed his face, enough to have it burned into her memory. The cold blue eyes, the white hair, the raised pink scar slicing across the right side of his face. The skull with a snake slithering through its jaws was green too, glittering against the serene blue sky. 

There were two cracks, in quick succession. First, that of the man, who disappeared almost as quickly as he came. Second, that of the branch Arabella had been crouching on.

When she came to, she was surrounded by white. _Am I dead?_ she asked herself. _Where did Valerie go?_

"Miss Morgan," said a gentle voice. "Miss Morgan! There's a witch from the Ministry here to ask a few questions on what happened before...before you were found." The voice belonged, she realized, to a wizard wearing lime green robes with an insignia of a crossed bone and wand. Everything had been green, too, before. Before? Why couldn't she remember what had happened? A sensation like her heart dropping into the pit of her stomach, that she remembered. And the green glow, which seemed to suffuse itself everywhere in her recollection. Arabella managed to croak out a yes before turning on her side towards the witch, a grave woman in grey robes.

"Hello, Miss Morgan. My name is Alice Fortescue, and I am an Auror, tasked with investigating crimes of a Dark nature. Do you remember what happened, the afternoon of August 7th, before you were found?" The witch asked.

"I, I think I fell, and I remember I had left my house in the morning to meet my friend Valerie, Valerie Walker, her parents are senior officials in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, perhaps you know them," Arabella babbled, trying in vain to think of something useful to say. She remembered that morning, remembered the rest of the summer, remembered the exact constellation of Valerie's freckles, but she for some reason could not remember the afternoon she fell.

"Valerie Walker is dead," replied Alice, her tone softening, "from the Killing Curse." "She was found at 4 in the afternoon in Barnard Park, Borough of Islington, with you, unconscious, a few feet away. You had fallen from a tree... There was a mark cast in the sky - as for you, the injuries you sustained must have caused oh, what do the Muggles call it, anesia?" The witch paused, looking to the mediwizard for assent. He nodded. "Are you sure you don't remember any details of the event, what the caster looked like, for example?"

"No, I'm sorry," Arabella replied weakly, lying back against the pillows. She felt tears begin to sting at her eyes. 

"By all appearances," Alice said gently, "she did not suffer at all. The Curse is painless, although I know it is poor comfort to you. My condolences, Miss Morgan. She was a lovely girl." Alice rose from Arabella's bedside and left.

The witch had left her with many questions, but she knew these three things.

Her best friend, Valerie Walker, had been murdered. She, Arabella Morgan, had hid away instead of protecting her. And finally, she would get her memory back, find who had cast the Killing Curse on Valerie, and spend her life tracking them down to kill them as mercilessly as they had killed the girl she remembered, even now, as being a little bit in love with. 

Her fingernails bit into her curled palms as she tried, in vain, to remember.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all, so this is my first ever fanfiction! Please leave criticism, what you liked, etc. I adore constructive feedback! Also fuck JKR. Trans rights are human rights. Needless to say, I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters except the ones I made up. ATYD fans may notice I chose to start my fic on the same day ATYD starts - although I picked August in advance for the many superstitions surrounding the month.


End file.
